Search This Blog

DIY Kimono

I haven't been sewing in a long time but lately I've been wanting to start again. So I made this beach kimono for my Gran Canaria trip (I came back last week). I used lightweight, flowy fabric that's a bit transparent. It's easiest to make a kimono of a big scarf, but I didn't have one. I bought this fabric from the flea market a few years ago and I've used it for a shirt/tunic before.

I got the basic instructions from this video. I cut out a 150 x 70 cm piece of the fabric. I folded the fabric and cut the upper layer in half and a little triangle on top for the neckline (see the white dashed line in the picture below). And then I cut little sleeves. The height of the sleeve is about 30 cm and the width of the narrowed part (that I cut off) was 10 cm. (Sorry about the wrinkled fabric, I ironed it after cutting.)

Then I sewed the side seams and hemmed all the other edges (I folded them twice before sewing). If you use a big, rectangular scarf, this project becomes easier, since you'll have less hemming to do. This type fabric wasn't easy to sew and the outcome isn't very neat, but it's good enough for me. And it was functional during the trip. Flowy enough not to make me hot and still protected my shoulders from the sun. Seuraavaksi ompelin sivusaumat (suoraommel ja siksak) ja päärmeet (taitoin kankaan kahdesti) muihin reunoihin. Jos käytät huivia, pääset helpommalla, kun päärmättävää on vähemmän. Tämä kangas oli aika hankala ommeltava, mikä näkyy lopputuloksessakin. Kimono oli matkalla ihan toimiva. Tarpeeksi ohut, ettei tullut kuuma, ja toisaalta se suojasi hartiat auringolta.

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How can I make acrylic paints opaque, vibrant and bright? Let's go through a few problems with acrylic painting and how to fix them. If you have issues with acrylics not being opaque enough or the colors not being vibrant and bright, you might be making some of these mistakes. I don't really like calling them mistakes, though, but nevertheless, you might find these quick acrylic painting tips helpful to solve those issues.

Having trouble coming up with ideas for art projects, art blog posts or art YouTube channel videos? I've listed 100 (or 101) art video title or topic ideas for YouTube in this post. A lot of them work for blog posts, too. Some of them you can use as ideas for you art projects that you don't even post online. I divided the list into sections: general art video title ideas, art challenges, art tutorials, themed artworks and art series. Some art challenges have many versions of them (3 marker challenge, 2 marker challenge and 1 marker challenge or 10 minute and 30 minute drawing challenge), but I'll just name one of the versions. You can download the list PDF format to save it or print it out.

Would you like to paint on cardboard, but have noticed that the paint soaks into and you can't achieve bright colors? I'll show you how to prepare a piece of cardboard for painting with gesso primer. Cardboard works for both acrylic and oil painting and you might sometimes want to use it instead of canvas, board, wood or paper to save money or to be more environmentally friendly.

A couple of months before my last birthday, I decided I wanted to start making speed painting videos for YouTube and asked for a tripod for my birthday. My first videos turned out to be travel diaries, because those were a lot easier to film. By now I've also made some DIY tutorial and speed art videos and I thought I'd share how I got started with those by using tools I already had or just cheap or free tools.

Why should you start a YouTube channel though, if you already run a craft or art blog? For one thing, it can be a lot more informative to watch video of an art technique or a craft project than just reading and seeing a few work-in-progress photos. Moreover, you can reach a bigger audience with videos than a written blog. My most popular blog post (Sugar Painting) has been viewed 2,100 times (based on Blogger statistics which exaggerate the number of views) while my most popular video has been viewed 8, 700 times. (This blog post was last updated inFebruary 2017.)

Have you ever wondered if you can mix charcoal and acrylic paint by painting acrylic over charcoal or drawing charcoal over acrylic? I tried it and here are the results. Read on to find out how to combine charcoal and acrylics into a mixed media painting without smudging the charcoal lines and the paint colors.